Green Bay, Wisconsin is known the world over for its famed football team, the Green Bay Packers and legendary quarterback, Brett Favre. Green Bay is also home to Relevant Radio and to A&A Alexandrina pregnancy assistance center. On April 28 Joe and Ann Scheidler were guests of both enterprises.
Joe Scheidler was invited to give the banquet address at the annual dinner and auction benefit for the A&A Alexandrina Crisis Pregnancy Center. The center takes its name from the life of the Venerable Alexandrina Maria de Costa who was paralyzed after jumping from a window as she attempted to escape from an attacker and preserve her purity. Her cause is on course for canonization.
In anticipation of the A&A banquet, center director Barbara Bartolazzi invited Joe and Ann to visit their center on Webster Street. Located in a small strip mall about a half-mile from the OB/Gyn Associates where abortions are performed, A&A has comfortable counseling rooms where their counselors meet with clients, an ultrasound and an examining room, a resource center for expectant mothers and a pro-life library. The center’s medical director, Dr. Amy Schueckler, oversees the healthcare aspects of the center.
Visit to Studio Turns into Interview
After touring A&A, since there was still a little time before the evening festivities, the Scheidlers paid a visit to Relevant Radio headquarters. Lori Herlihy gave them a tour of the main facility and then took them to the studio where Drew Mariani was preparing for his afternoon program. Mariani invited the Scheidlers to join him in the studio and quickly changed the programming to accommodate an in-studio interview.
During the interview Joe and Ann had an opportunity to announce the League’s upcoming “Contraception Is Not the Answer” conference scheduled for September 22 and 23 (see story). Both Drew and callers to his program were excited about the conference. Drew asked to be kept up to date on the details so that he could help get the word out to his listeners.
At the A&A banquet that evening, Joe spoke about the vital role of the crisis pregnancy center from an activist’s point of view. Sidewalk counselors, he said, rely on the compassion and the services of centers like A&A when they try to dissuade women from going in to abortion clinics.
Scheidler Hat on Auction
In addition to his banquet talk, Joe donated one of his famous hats to the auction. Drew Mariani, who served as master of ceremonies and auctioneer, was able to get the bidding up to $250 for the Scheidler hat!
A special treat in Green Bay was the chance to get together with Laura Canning Ebert and her husband Michael. Laura worked with Joe Scheidler at Illinois Right to Life in the mid-seventies. Her compassionate counseling of a caller prompted a waiting coffee service salesman to offer to cover the cost of IRLC’s rent. That salesman, Tom Bresler, later opened the Aid for Women crisis pregnancy centers in Deerfield, IL and downtown Chicago. Michael and Laura attended the A&A banquet and stayed in Green Bay overnight to join the Scheidlers for breakfast.
On Saturday morning, the Scheidlers met with the staff and volunteers of A&A and fielded questions about pro-life activism. Just as one of the volunteers was suggesting that it would be a good idea to have a regular pro-life segment on Relevant Radio, Lori Herlihy walked in unexpectedly, but providentially. She said she would present the idea to the Relevant Radio executives at their next meeting. We’ll see what the future holds.
